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Fabric Labels for Your Handmade Goods

January 20, 2015

A fabric label is the perfect finishing touch for any handmade item. Caitlin, Spoonflower crew member and owner of online fabric shop Salty Oat, shares how to create a fabric label featuring a logo or sweet sentiment–ideal for handcrafted goods to stock an Etsy shop ora special gift stitched up for a dear friend.

As someone who sews both gifts and products to sell, I’ve learned the importance of labeling my work. Labels are a great way to brand your work with your company’s logo and give it a professional finish when selling items online or in person. Labels can also be a great way to add a sweet message to a handmade gift or personalize it for the recipient.

In today’s tutorial, I’ll share one way to create labels through Spoonflower that would be excellent for zipper pouches, throw pillows, quilts, clothing, pincushions, and anything else you can dream up.

To start, you’ll want to create a simple label using your preferred design program. In this case, I used Photoshop and created a 2.5” x 1.5” rectangle at 150 dpi.

Keeping in mind that the label would be folded in half, I created two text boxes, one for each side of the label. When determining the placement of the text, remember that the top and bottom edges of the rectangles will lose some white space to the hems, and the ends will be sewn into a seam, so leave at least a ¼” all around. You can insert your brand’s logo, or you can add your own text, like “Made in North Carolina” or “You’re my Favorite.”

Once you’ve saved your image, you’re ready to order. I uploaded my fabric labels to the Spoonflower site and set my repeat to Basic. For this project, I chose, and recommend, Cotton Poplin. It’s a lightweight fabric with a crisp hand, which is perfect for labels. A test swatch yielded 15 labels, which will keep me well stocked for a while.

Once you receive your fabric, you’re ready to start cutting. Cut your fabric into strips using a rotary cutter, cutting mat, and clear ruler (or a sharp pair of scissors).

Once the strips are cut, load a rolled-hem foot onto your sewing machine. This is an excellent foot for creating those small, clean hems you see on silk scarves and cotton handkerchiefs. Using the rolled-hem foot will allow you to professionally finish the edges of your labels, so that they don’t fray.

Hem the sides of each of the label strips, and then cut them down into individual labels. Now you’re ready to add them to your projects by simply sewing them into your items’ seams.

In my case, I added a fabric label with my company’s logo to a zipper pouch, and a "Handmade with Love" label to a pincushion I made from a Wild Olive design I embroidered by hand. I simply folded the labels in half, pinned them to the outer edges of my cut fabric pieces, and sewed as usual.

Do you try to label everything you make? By making a set of labels in advance, you’re always ready to personalize your work, even at the last minute!

About Our Guest Blogger

Caitlin Topham is a quilter and small online fabric shop owner based in Raleigh, NC. Her work features bold and modern fabrics, and minimal and improvisational designs. She can be found online at Salty Oat, as well as on Instagram and Etsy.

I’m making pillows for my entire family, to give to them next Christmas. I want to put a personalized label on them, but I wasn’t sure how to do it. This is an extremely easy, and affordable way that I can personalize each pillow I’m giving them! Thank you so much, this will save me so much time and frustration!
Label Manufacturing

Thank you so much for this tutorial which I\’ve just found. I\’ve been looking into getting some labels made for the tea towels, pouches and pillows I make with my Spoonflower fabrics but the cost is prohibitively expensive. This sounds like a great alternative and I can\’t wait to have a go.